Fantasy Carlisle Academy of Magical Arts

[TheLoyalAcorn]

Jace felt the noises but was completely ignorant to what they were talking about. Jace grabbed a lawn mower and quickly spun it up and all but ran out to cut the grass. He was gone gone gone. He didn't wait to hear how so and so would do this and so and so would do that.

His heart pounded in his head. His brain felt like jelly with every step he took. His limbs felt none of the soreness from earlier. Jace's mind flew back to a lesson talking about manipulators were the best athletes because they could alter their bodies in a way to work more effectively, or in Jace's case use drugs without failing a test.

It wasn't until 3 minutes in he realized he still had his bag on his back. With a shrug, Jace continued oblivious to everything around him. All he focused on was making perfect lines. Currently, he was doing it flawlessly. He had 6 hours before the side effects would be felt. Thankfully, he could just keep "bumping" along.

Jace panted like a dog his mouth dry his eyes blinking rapidly cleaning out the debris from cutting the grass.

This was fun, it was easy, no rules, no supervisor, no expectations and no pressure. All he had to do was make perfect lines. Faster... Faster! FASTER! Jace was almost jogging. He wasn't looking farther than 4 feet in front of the mower all his attention on his perfect lines. At the back of Jace's mind he tried to remember to thank Mary for her meds.

Unknown to Jace, a Major Kelly stood watching seeing Jace's antics. A look of disgust wormed into the old mans face before he stormed back to his class. His thoughts of Jace being late for class evaporated.

A/N
Based off of my experiences off of Vyvanse if anything breaks lore or the world give me a heads up, and I'll change it. I don't want to ruin our shared story.

 

[Bellatsakha]

Vanya looked at the equipment in front of her. She didn’t know what she was doing, she’d never even seen a gardener working since her gardener back home worked while everyone was asleep.

She watched Jace shoot off like a rocket and wondered why; she doubted he loved gardening that much. Jace was the typical person she had in mind when her parents told her not to make friends with commoners: Brash, uncouth and a little bit rude. However, she thought there was something fascinating about the way he just let the world see what he was thinking and feeling, it was as if he didn’t care about reputation and that interested her to no end. Besides, what her parents didn’t know couldn’t hurt them.

Oliver was another interesting subject. He was quiet around them but exploded when confronted, which begged the question if he was acting quiet to hide something. Now, she didn’t want to assume things because it was entirely likely Mrs. Warwick planned to make them do this regardless, but his mouthing off did get them in more trouble and that worried her. The teacher didn’t just punish the one student, she punished all of them and she doubted Oliver would hold back if she came for him again. It was fun to watch him tear her apart though.

Piper seemed nice, at least from what Vanya could tell having only met the girl for a couple of minutes, but she had to wonder what she was doing in a school like this. She’d seen blind children before, one of her father’s colleagues had a blind boy and he was kept inside the house at all time, bodyguards escorted him everywhere, the table and wall corners had been shaved off and he was home-schooled. Piper seemed to manage just fine on her own. Now, she didn’t want to jump the gun, but she wondered if perhaps Piper had found another way to ‘see’ what was going on around her like being able to sense light as some blind animals could. It was certainly something she’d keep an eye out for.

She lay her satchel down carefully on the small concrete slab surrounding the hut. Heels weren’t the best thing for walking on grass and she didn’t have any other shoes, aside from pointe shoes which probably wouldn’t be any better. She placed a hand on the handle of the mower and gave it a little push. She groaned internally, it wasn’t as heavy as she thought it would be, but it was still heavy enough for her to get tired really quick.

“Well, at least it isn’t raining.” She stated, although she would prefer the rain because she could dry the rain off but she couldn’t get rid of a suntan. That was if she didn’t get sunburnt first. Maybe having hat head wasn’t worse than this.

 

[TheCoRgiGaL]

As Piper made her way out of the shed, her invisibility a big help when it came to sneaking around (She always said if she couldnt see anything than neither should the opponent), Piper suddenly stopped and listened. They all seemed to be going to work, just like what that teacher wanted! She wasnt very good as pursuading people to do things, so she knew she wouldnt be able to convince all three of them that they should leave, especially Vanya.

As much as she had assumed the prodigy didnt want to be here like the rest of them, that didnt mean she didnt have some reason she wanted to stay.. even Jace was running around like a mad man- which was almost funny enough to make her stay and just imagine what he looked like- but what really made her stop was the small pang of guilt she felt. Was she really willing to abandoned these three to do the work all on their own when she had also been sentenced to the same punishment?

Begrudgingly she made her way back to the others, reappearing again as she got to the shed. Sure she could be a jerk, but she wasnt heartless. Unfortunately she realized she had no idea what any of the tools were used for in there. She had felt around and recognized some of the names for them, but really couldnt use them properly enough to do a good job... so she ended up just picking up twigs and sticks on the ground that had fallen.

She didnt even need her echo location for that, it was just a matter of kicking around the grass until she found some. So she went to work like the rest of them, hoping there would be another opportunity for all of them to leave.

 

[Pumpkid]

All Oliver has to do is make it through. Easy enough. He's trimmed as much as he could leaving some twigs on the gtound focused on his duty. He stopped at some point for a break taking a seat on a boulder under the shade of a tree. The breeze was surprisingly cool, but the fact remained it was equally warm which made him feel hot just the same.

He wiped away his sweat with his scarf's tail taking a moment to relax, take in the artistry of the garden. It was coming along just fine with everyone....well almost everyone's help. The only ones working are him and Jace whom by the way has been on high gear mowing the lawn like a maniac. It was very odd how he switched from one person to hard working man.

Oliver scoffed at the idea of Jace indeed being the quirky one. Perhaps there was something he's striving for or on something, but he could care less. He's just grateful the garden might actually be finished ahead of time. He turned towards the other girls. One still missing the other is across the yard picking up whatever she can find by the looks of it, twigs and weeds. A capital idea for her to do.

Oliver frowned at how difficult it must be plucking weeds or having to carry trash in her hand as she goes. Her hands must be diety and aching. He hummed trying to find a way to help. The only thing that came up is to offer her the right equipment and that's exactly what he did returning to the shack retrieving a pair of gardening gloves, and a bucket.

He stops in his tracks after turning to the exit. The missing student, Vanya attempted to press the handle to something he wasn't sure what, but assisted with a sigh shaking his head. The tall male pressed the handle with just enough force at tbe same time unlocking whatever it is she needed. He turned to the queen, "You should stick to something you CAN do like raking or watering plants." And with that exits the room without giving her a chance to reply. Whether Vanya chose to take offense or not is up to her? He merely advised her on the obvious. Even Piper knew what she is capable of without struggling.

The snow haired teen draws up to the brunette casting a shadow over her. Probably pleasant to her if she was tired and hot. He kneeled beside her offering her a pair of gardening gloves and a bucket to stuff the twigs inside. His presence let out a cool refreshing feel. A natural thing to emit being an ice weilder. His body eas cold as ice as well like a dead corpse. Possible confuse him for one. A tactic which works every time to escape something. "Here." He said is a soft voice. "You'll hurt your hands plucking weeds thst way. There is a bucket here for you to throw them away. You don't have to hold on to them."

 

[Bellatsakha]

Vanya wiped her hand under her bangs and felt the sweat collecting under her dark hair. She’d never been outside in the sun for longer than half an hour, it just wasn’t something she did. Her home was large enough that there was always something to do inside and every class she took was inside the school so she had no reason to be outside. She’d never built up a resistance to the sun so every second she spent outside was another second towards a sunburn.

She brushed her skirt down, giving a polite smile towards the remaining two people, “I’m going to go back to my dorm and get a hat and some sunscreen before I do anything. If I’m not back in an hour, assume I got heat stroke and passed out.”

It was a reasonable time considering how long she took to get ready. She wanted to tie her hair up as well and change her shirt into something with shorter sleeves because the sweat collecting everywhere was slimy and disgusting. The walk back was only fifteen minutes at Vanya’s fast pace but she felt like she was going to pass out after it.

Her head felt warm and fuzzy and she struggled to maintain her calm composure, thank god she was alone. She sat on her bed and took a second to breathe deeply. She had to calm down, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Grabbing a water bottle from her bag, she took a large gulp and lay flat on her bed. She couldn’t tell whether it was anxiety or the heat that was making her feel that way. Either way, she had to get up and deal with it without making a fuss.

She took off her blazer and hung it neatly in her closet, then changed into a short sleeved shirt and picked out the lowest heels she owned since all she owned was heels for some reason. It was almost as if she didn’t expect to have to do long intensive physical labor. She washed her face and applied sunscreen all over her arms and face and waited for it to dry so she could reapply everything, then pinned her hair into a low bun and picked out a beige boater hat with a red ribbon around it.

Sure enough, the whole ordeal took around 45 minutes and by the time she set off again, she worried the others would think she abandoned them. She still didn't know what she was actually going to do, perhaps she could trim the bushes at the edges or something else that would keep her in the shade. Can you trim bushes with a sword? She hoped so because that would make things a lot easier for her.

 

[TheCoRgiGaL]

As the minutes went on, Piper found that it wasnt... terrible to do a little work. Sure, she might not have been doing as much as the others, but it was something, and the more work that was done, however little it mightve been, might be a big help in the end. But also maybe not...

Unfortunately by this time she had realized that there mightve been a few more sticks than she had guessed, and it was becoming a bit hard to carry so many sticks. She set them down slowly and was about to go look for something to put them in when a sudden coolness washed over her. It felt extremely good compared to the growing heat, but it startled her for a minute until she heard Oliver’s voice next to her, oddly... gentle.

“Oh! Um.. thanks.” She said a bit lamely as she took the bucket from him. She moved the sticks into the pale and smiled a bit. “I was actually just about to go find something to put these in... this really sucks doesnt it? How are the others doing?”

 

[Pumpkid]

Oliver stood up keeping quiet as he helped tossed the twigs inside. "Fine." He simply answered removing dirt off his hands. His answer subtle not meaning to sound crude. He sighed finding the heat unbarable. He couldn't wait for the evening? Less heat to deal with. Useful to sleep through through the night. His attention turns over to Vanya. A new set of clothes than when he last saw her. He couln't help but glare briefly. "Of course princess cares more about her looks." He mumbled taking off to sheer away the rest of hedges before sundown. Perhaps once he finishes he could water the plants or rake the leaves. Better yet redesign the garden istelf. Some plants looked dry and must be replaced. What to do what to do?

 

[Bellatsakha]

The walk back had cooled Vanya down both physically and mentally. Now she was calm, she felt stupid for having a mini-breakdown over something so trivial and even more stupid for taking so long to get over it. She ignored the look Oliver sent her, it wasn’t worth it, and instead took a look at the weeds that littered the flowerbeds. If she couldn’t practice ballet, she’d practice something else.

A blue light shimmered in her hand and a knife appeared. It was curved with patterns carved into the blade and a serrated edge, the handle was wood painted with black paint and gone over with shiner. It wasn’t the best she had in her collection, but it would be enough to chop a few plants down. Once her parents found out what her powers were, they went all in buying her bows and arrows, knives, swords, axes even though she was yet to use one and spears, anything you could think of they bought her along with lessons.

She stepped carefully through the flowers and cut anything that didn’t look like it belonged. She began a small pile that she could leave for someone with a bucket to pick up and set off to do all the large flowerbeds that sat along the school estate and around the walls. She had to hand it to them, they sure knew how to make a place look pretty.

 

[TheLoyalAcorn]

Jace was exhausted and sat underneath the shade of a tree. He mowed all the grass for the most part. The parts he missed were in hard to reach places a lawn mower would be too bulky for. He spent the next 5 minutes moving the drug out of his system and into his left fingernail. An old druggie trick he picked up.

Stretching his arms he felt the full force of today's work hit him. He reached into his bag and pulled out an energy drink. He reached in again to snag some vitamins to directly manipulate to where the vital nutrients needed to go. Unlike drugs, the life sustaining stuff took awhile to spread out and even longer to actually take effect. Sipping on his energy drink and continuing to stretch, Jace enjoyed what little breeze there was.

In the distance, he saw the Queen hard at work in the flower beds. She looked like something out of a fairy tale. The princess forced to be a peon like everyone else too bad a prince wasn't going to save the day for them.

The newcomer had decided to replace the plants. He should consider going into business for it. Knowingly or unknowingly, the flowers he put in place of the new ones had an extraordinary blend that seemed to catch the eye in a natural awe inspiring way. Then again they were just flowers.

The blind girl continued to pick up sticks at a decent pace. Despite being in direct sunlight, she didn't pause or halt. It was as the heat didn't exist. It was just an endless cycle of her kicking out her foot grabbing the stick and moving on.

Jace stood back up and headed to the shed leaving his bag under the tree. They would be lucky to find anything in the bag without Jace's guiding hand. He just needed to find a weed whacker and maybe have a quick smoke. With everyone playing to their strengths, Jace couldn't imagine them taking longer than 3 more hours. Hell, he might even make it to his last class just in time to hear the bell ring.

 

[Bellatsakha]

By the time they’d finished, students were pouring out of school and making their way down the long paths back to their dorm rooms, likely ignoring the perfectly trimmed gardens that the four put so much hard work into. As they stood at the end of campus admiring their handiwork, three teachers strode up to them with looks of fury.

Mrs. Redwood opened her mouth first, “What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” She yelled, steam practically coming out of her ears, “I can’t believe you four thought it was a good idea to play hooky when you’re already in so much trouble. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Vanya was ever so confused. Didn’t they know about the punishment Mrs. Warwick gave them? Honestly, it wasn’t a big surprise considering the other teachers may not have agreed with it, but why hadn’t they at least been excused from the day’s lessons even if the reason wasn’t specified?

“Now, let’s calm down for a second,” Mrs. Sanders, a nicer old lady who was known to be a bit of a push-over cut in, “There’s a reason they need extra help.”

“I don’t care. They shouldn’t be able to get away with such disobedience just because they’re falling behind; if anything we should be stricter.” She turned back to the students, “Come on children, let’s see what the headmaster has to say about this.”

They were marched to the office as any students still in the building looked at them with interest comparable to predators watching prey and Vanya struggled to keep her face blank. Mrs. Redwood knocked thrice on the headmaster’s door and didn’t even wait before pushing it open and steering the children inside, much to the dismay of the headmaster who was talking with another teacher about curriculum.

“You’ll never guess what I caught these four doing.” Mrs. Redwood said, “They skipped class to hang out in the gardens. I knew it was a bad idea to put all the delinquents together. If Mrs. Warwick can’t control them then who can?”

The headmaster let out a long sigh and dismissed the teacher he had been previously talking to, “Firstly, Mrs. Redwood, I'd appreciate if you waited before coming in. Secondly, you know children, when I put you together I intended to create an environment where you could empathize with each other and gain a support network that would help you achieve what I know you can. I don’t think I have to say that this is unacceptable behavior. What do you have to say for yourselves?”

 

[TheLoyalAcorn]

A quick glance around the room. Everyone seemed to believe they were delinquents that did skip class without a care for the world. This was not where he thought this was going. If anything, he thought there would be compliments for the girls and a nod to the boys for the hard work and maybe some extra credit.

"We did Mrs. Warwick's lesson. The one on learning a hard work ethic. We each did our part, and I figured you all knew otherwise I would've ignored the honored Mrs. Warwick and told her that she was abusing our time.

Vanya did a spectacular job leading us and organizing everything. Oliver took the initiative to go ahead and clear out some of the dead flowers and replace then with new beautiful flowers and Piper gave it her all never complaining having to do the work none of us wanted to do.

I think we learned our lesson pretty well. Mrs. Warwick was a great mentor showing us what hard work can do. I look forward to her next lessons... I just wish she informed you Head master on our class, so we could fill out the proper volunteer forms and tell our teachers we would be gone."

Jace was oozing out as much charisma as he could muster. He stretched the truth as much as he dared, and he tried to sound as innocent as possible. They got an order and Mrs. Warwick screwed them.

The law of survival was to try and turn everyone on his side and place the lingering question of could these kids possibly sue us due to a teacher's neglect of some very rich students, or Mrs. Warwick's competency. Jace discreetly brushed against Vanya in Hope's she would understand to keep playing along. Anger wasn't going to get them anywhere, if she was good at manipulation maybe they could turn this into their advantage. At that moment Major Kelly opened the door and made his way to join the rest of his teachers arms crossed and eyes burning a hole into the 4 misfits.

 

[Bellatsakha]

Vanya was surprised at Jace’s eloquence, it wasn’t what she expected from someone like him and perhaps that was her fault for judging too soon. She thought he’d react with anger as she thought Oliver was and was secretly scared of due to the reaction his last outburst got them. Jace had the right idea to take it calmly. Although, there were a few snide remarks and quite a bit of bullshit in there that she hoped the headmaster wouldn’t pick up on, but knowing him he probably would.

He signaled to her to keep up the charade which she found ironic because it seemed like something she would do to him. Arguments were somewhat of a specialty of hers and having people do exactly what she wanted them to without even knowing they were doing it was a bit of a guilty pleasure.

“If I may interject,” She said, turning up the posh pronunciation in her voice, “The notion that we would skip school is a little far-fetched if you don’t mind me saying. I joined the support group to improve my grades and make myself a better student, so why would I skip even more lessons? I honestly want to become a better person, as do the others, and we would never skip something that you worked so hard to create for our benefit.” The amount of flattery coming out of her mouth could’ve made her teeth rot.

The headmaster hummed, “I’m not sure, you are all very strong-willed children. I doubt it would take much to convince each other to rebel.”

Change tactics, “I see your point and from where you’re coming from it’s understandable that you would be apprehensive. Now, I can only speak for myself, but the entire reason I am in this situation is because I prioritized hobbies over school,” It hurt to belittle it to that since it was literally her entire future, but she had to for this to work, “So why would I skip those to stay outside all day?”

“Perhaps they’ve been a bad influence on you.” He replied, but he was thinking harder which meant he was doubting his opinions. She just had to find one more angle to poke and she’d have him right where she wanted him.

“I highly doubt that considering it was your idea to put us in a group and it’s unlike you to make a mistake like that. Also, Mrs. Warwick is known for being able to handle even the most difficult students, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“That’s why you made the smart decision of placing her in charge of us, yes?”

“Yes.”

“So she would make sure we adhered to the school timetable unless there was a conflicting reason, wouldn’t she?”

“Well, yes.” He paused for a moment, “Mrs. Redwood, could you please fetch Mrs. Warwick for me?” He said, not taking his eyes off Vanya.

The room was silent. Vanya didn’t drop her gaze from the headmasters. She knew Mrs. Warwick was a good liar, but she was good at arguing with a clear mind so if she listened closely enough then she could pick holes in Mrs. Warwick’s lies and make the headmaster see they were innocent.

Mrs. Warwick came through the door with a pleasant look on her face like a baker selling cookies to children; Vanya wanted to grind her teeth but she just stood there with a polite smile plastered on her face.

“Oh my, whatever are you all doing here?” Mrs. Warwick asked with false concern.

The headmaster cleared his throat, “I’m sorry to interrupt your work, but they were found skiving off school in the gardens. They maintain that you told them to do it, is that true?”

She looked shocked, “Heavens no. I would never, not in this heat.”

The headmaster looked back at the children expecting a response.

 

[TheLoyalAcorn]

Jace kept his face plastered with what he thought would be an innocent look. In the inside his body was slowly starting to tremble in anger. She was honorless and weak. It would be so easy to just leave and not deal with this... but was home any better?

"Surely, we can check video footage? Have you ever heard of a teenager volunteering to do yard work? I mean either way the garden has been cleaned and improved as you can see the evidence right outside." A chuckle or two rang out in the office at Jace's mention of teenagers volunteering. Jace turned to Major Kelly who was bound to support him.

"Jace give me a sample of your left pinky fingernail" was all Major Kelly said. Confusion erupted across the room. All the teachers looked confused at the question. Jace's smile grew even larger as his heart pounded. Now he was looking at a felony, Vanya either hid her expression well or the upper crust of society didn't know how junkies passed the drug tests.
A hand shot out and grabbed Jace's left hand before, using a file, shaved a sample from his fingernail leaving it on the table. Letting go of Jace's hand, Major Kelly scooped the sample into a small little bottle and shook it the clear liquid turned bright red.
"Told to or not, it's against school policy to do drugs. Jace you should be proud of yourself. I expected a light pink. Whatever you were on seems to be the real thing." Sarcasm dropped off of Major Kelly's words. The headmaster cleared his throat clearly disturbed from the 180 turn of Jace being an eloquent student to a druggie. Jace saw Major Kelly slide the drug legend over to the headmaster who then shook his head. This was not going well.
"Headmaster I don't care what Mrs. Warwick said and is lying about" Mrs. Warwick awkwardly smiled playing innocent to the crowd. "Jace broke one of the rules that even outside of the school is a rule the world adheres to. His punishment should be just and swift, and I'll be damned if he gets away with it"

 

[Bellatsakha]

Well, that threw a wrench in Vanya’s plan. One down and three to go. She couldn’t believe Jace would be so stupid to take drugs at school. Forget school, in general. Even if he wasn’t in school it would still be stupid. The worst part was now if she defended them for the original issue, everyone would think she was trying to cover for him. From Major Kelly’s tone, wording and the fact he knew exactly how to check, she could tell it wasn’t a one-time deal; that was probably why he was in the support group.

One good thing to come out of this was now she knew it wasn’t just because of grades, it was because of something else so she guessed the real reason she was there was skipping class. Ironic considering the position she was currently in. Suddenly, she realized why no-one believed her. It wasn’t because they automatically trusted Mrs. Warwick, although that could be said for the headmaster, it was because they saw her skipping class usually as just that instead of her prioritizing other things over schoolwork. In their eyes, there was no difference between her skipping for piano practice and skipping to laze around in the sun all day. Any hope of her persuading them had gone down the drain.

The headmaster sighed mournfully, “I see we still have a lot of work to do with you.” He said directly to Jace, “It’ll be alright though, you still have the rest of the year to spend in this group that will hopefully change your behavior for the better. However, a deed like that cannot go unpunished.” He shuffled some papers around on the desk.

“Am I free to go now?” Mrs. Warwick asked politely during the pause in the headmaster’s speech.

“Yes, of course.” The headmaster looked up, “And the rest of you can go as well. Miss Blakely and Mr. Camp stay behind please.”

As everyone filed out the room, Vanya’s stomach sunk. She should’ve just stayed quiet as she did the last time she entered the headmaster’s office. She would’ve gotten off the hook easily.

“Now, children,” He said once everyone had left, “Since you are so dead set on covering for each other’s bad behavior,” Great, now he thought they were working together to lie to him, “You can spend your next punishment together. All weekend, in fact. Vanya, you’ll be in charge of making sure Jace stays off drugs for the entire weekend and I’m sure having a sit-in for all your various hobbies,” He said with a slight grimace, “Will be punishment enough.”

He was correct. He must’ve done his research because somehow he knew that she spent almost the entire weekend practicing none stop. 6 hours of ballet, 2 of violin, 2 of piano and 3 or weapons training. She hated being watched during those times because they were practice, which meant she failed a lot of the time. The point of practice was that when she showed people, she wouldn’t fail in front of them. This punishment was literally redefining what the word practice meant.

“I’m sure there’s a better punishment than that.” She attempted, “Wouldn’t it be a better idea to separate us since we are working together after all?”

“No.” He said, a small smile on his face, “I believe that’s the perfect punishment and the fact that you’re so averse to it means I’m right.”

 

[TheLoyalAcorn]

"Sweet so can we go now too" any courtesy or cares disappeared. Jace's face twisted into one of annoyance like one would have if they hit an unexpected speed bump.

Usually, the headmaster just dealt with Jace skipping class or other nonsensical problem. Major Kelly was the one who dealt with the real problems but now everyone was less than impressed with how Jace got work done. At home no one would even care... for the most part.
Jace's mind went to having to watch Vanya practice. Jace hated any form of practice including practicing for the schools duelist club the reason he even got here. Of course, he was excused once his academics dipped, but he was still the best for the manipulator side.

He internally shrugged as he thought about bringing his kiddie pool, lawn chair and a box of caprisuns to watch Vanya practice. Hell, the only difference would be instead of the beach he drew on the wall it would just be a prodigy doing her thing. In fact, one day he could brag about being there to see the great Vanya before she got famous.

 

[Bellatsakha]

She and Jace left the room, the heavy oak door swinging shut behind them. Vanya turned to Jace with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go pay a very loud song on the piano. Goodbye.” She turned around a walked away, her posture so forced to be calm to was almost robotic.

Once she got to the music room, she closed and locked the door so no-one would enter. The room was one of the larger ones that had a marble floor like the ballroom that was now the dining room. Wooden benches lined the sides and in the middle sat a large white grand piano. Chandeliers hung above her and the large red curtains were held open by rope, it reminded her a lot of the grandeur of her manor home so perhaps that was why she enjoyed spending time there.

She sat down on the red velvet piano stool and placed her fingers on the cool ivory keys. She didn’t bother warming up with scales, she was too frustrated for that. Instead, the threatening sound of a piece appropriately names ‘Vengeance’ filled the room as she recited it from memory. It was one her home was frequently filled with.

During the weekend she wouldn’t be able to play anything she was currently working on because she couldn’t fail in front of Jace. She couldn’t fail in front of anyone, hence why practice time was a thing. She’d have to go over pieces she knew she could play perfectly, but then what was the point of it being practice time.

She didn’t even want to get started on her long ballet class. It wouldn’t be a class, it would be a reminder of all the dances she’d already done and not the one that she was practicing to get into the Royal Ballet’s production of Giselle. She needed a spectacular performance to impress them since she’d be going up against some amazing dancers that she’d watched on stage in Royal Ballet productions before, so she’d picked a variation from La Bayadere and it was one of the toughest things she’d ever attempted. She needed all the practice time she could get her hands on but she didn’t want to do it in front of other people. Life was so inconvenient sometimes.

After releasing some anger on the piano, she practiced her current piece for a good three hours. Every time she made a mistake, she started from the beginning. It was only when she ruined an entire bar did she realize she was too tired to keep going. Reluctantly, she packed away her music sheets in a folder, unlocked the door and headed back to her house whilst ignoring her stomach grumbling because it was too late for dinner and if she ate she wouldn’t be able to sleep. It wouldn’t have mattered because she couldn’t sleep anyway.

 

[TheLoyalAcorn]

Jace immediately split off from Vanya. He would have plenty of time to spend with her later as she showed off how much better the upper crust of society was compared to Jace.

"Jace!" A quick turn and Jace saw his team captain in full protective gear for practice. "Yo man if you want to be on the team you gotta practice."

"Go away nerd, I beat you the last duel." Jacob rubbed his face in frustration.

"That's not the point. We are a team we need to rely on one another and-" Jace kept walking waving at Jacob as he walked away.

"You don't need a team when you have talent, but I'll swing by probably tonight if I'm so inclined."

With that Jace went to his room leaving Jacob with a scowl on his face. Jace looked around the room and saw no one there. They were all probably with girlfriends or boyfriends. Opening a window, he put on his swim trunks and baja jacket. He sat down and put his bare feet into the kiddie pool that face his side of the room's wall. It was painted to look like some far away beach. Closing his eyes, the fan that blew his way every so often. He could almost imagine being at the beach. Soon his thoughts drifted off into the distance.

He would be wasting his weekend under the watch of the prodigy. It wasn't the worst thing, but it could be better. An angry snort came from Jace thinking about how the two others got off Scott free. His luck since on top of that he got a watch dog.

His phone vibrated waking Jace from his thoughts. Answering, Jace heard his brother's voice. "Hey man I need some help"

"I can't I'm in trouble again" Jace heard Sage swear in the background and speak to someone else.

"Hey man I need your talents to pay for this months power bill and moms meds." Jace swore.

"If you swing by with mom I can a short fix. I also got some money stashed away. Is $200 enough." Jace was going through his stuff looking at everything trying to find cash.

"Its good enough we'll swing by at... noon if that works" Jace just grunted in approval before his brother hung up. On his desk he saw a flyer for the duelist club. He threw it in the trash and went to one of his hiding holes and pulled out some contraband. He had more important things to do then duelist club.

 

[Bellatsakha]

When Saturday morning came, Vanya sat up in bed having only gotten three hours of sleep. She slipped out of bed in her white chiffon nightgown and took the clothes she’d set out the night before into the bathroom. None of the other girls in her dorm were awake as she’d gotten out of bed at an unusually early time since she couldn’t be bothered to lie there awake any longer. She undid the ribbons holding the dress in place and let it fall to her feet.

She dressed in an emerald green velvet dress that had a white lace collar and short puffed sleeves. It sipped up at the back and went down to her knees. She did her hair up in a ballet bun and added a matching green ribbon around it before taking the painstaking half an hour to cover up the small number of red patches on her skin. She packed up all her sheet music that she thought she’d need along with her violin and ballet uniform. It was going to be a long day. Luckily, she only had to do things she was good at, so perhaps if she kept to what she knew, she could keep up the perfect reputation at least among the students. Just forget about the teachers for a while.

She didn’t know when or where she was going to meet Jace so she flagged down the nearest student and asked them to go to Jace’s house and ask his house mistress to tell him to hurry up and meet her in the music room. That was bound to start rumors. She didn’t know if he even knew where the music room was, but it would give her more alone time if he didn’t.

She ran through her scales as fast as possible before beginning the practice of her newest piece ‘Adventures in a Strange World’, another demanding classical piece she heard at a concert during the previous school holiday. It was exciting and fast-paced, which meant lots of technique and memorizing melodies, constantly keeping an ear out for the door just in case someone walked in.

 

[TheLoyalAcorn]

Jace heard knocking on the door and groaned. He heard his roommates swear as the one with either the most energy or the angriest ripped open the door. "Jace go to the freaking music room!" With that his room mate crawled back into bed.

This was already super stupid. Jace grumbled to himself. Pulling his baja jacket on, Jace slipped on his flip flops and stuffed his last nights earnings into his pocket. He barely made the 200. He grabbed his back pack on his way out next to the door much to his room mates complaints saying it was on his side of the room.

As he left the room he heard a feminine voice. He was not in the mood to deal with this. Jace raced off headed to the music room. He knew exactly where it was and in a few minutes he opened the door to see no one there. Taking a few steps back, Jace read the door plate. "Group Study room" what the hell.

Jace looked around the hall seeing it empty. He spent the next 10 odd minutes searching for the music room before he stumbled on the right one. He heard the song of a beautiful piano melody. A bit better than most classical songs he was forced to listen to, but his heard belonged to the fast pace melodies of Kaskade unfortunately. Jace made his way to the very front and pulled out a sketch book from his bag and started to sketch. Half listening to the melodies dancing on the piano.

 

[Bellatsakha]

Vanya heard him before she saw him. He’d missed the first half an hour so she’d gotten half an hour of practice in, which was good enough. It would be suspicious to stop a piece halfway through, so she tried her hardest to make it to the end of the melody so it sounded natural. She looked at him out the corner of her eye and saw him bent over a sketchbook; it didn’t seem to match with the first impression he made, but she'd have to sit back and watch without judgement in order to get a clearer picture of him. Though, it seemed she wasn’t the only one with a distracting hobby.

She played her way through a more classical piece that she’d been playing for two years now so she almost knew it by heart, but she followed the sheet just in case. She’d played it at her parent's winter gala and received endless compliments from everyone except said parents so it must be one of her better ones, although you can never really tell the sincerity of rich people, especially those in the company of other rich people. There was a reason they got so rich and it wasn't just because they had an amazing business idea.

Jace didn’t seem to be paying much attention so she hoped the next hour or so would go uninterrupted.

 

[TheLoyalAcorn]

Jace sketched out chemical compounds, human anatomy and other items to help him remember how to manipulate his body properly. It was hard remembering the properties of a human body the exact formation of his muscles. He spent hundreds of dollars getting blood samples, xrays and other medical examinations to figure out how his body was structured to prevent becoming like his mom.

Jace rolled his eyes as he remember he forgot his phone. He then groaned realizing how badly he could draw. He should take some lessons on it. Then again, he was the only one who needed to understand the drawings.

Looking up from his sketches, Jace figured he might as well say something. "Music's beautiful" he then looked back down and started to draw a little more while randomly writing a number or chemical compound.

 

[Bellatsakha]

Vanya almost played a wrong note when he spoke. She'd been following the sheet so intensely that she'd forgotten why she was doing it in the first place. She quickly got back on track and wondered what possessed him to say that. He constantly confused her. One second he wanted nothing to do with her, the next he was off his head on drugs and later he complimented classical music and sketched. It was odd to her.

She supposed he just said whatever was on his mind or at least expressed however he was feeling at the time. That was something she could never understand because how did people expect to get their way in life if they just said what was on their mind. Then again, he had proven himself a competent, if a little aggressive, liar so she really didn't know what to think.

"I know," She replied, softening her playing so she could talk over it, "That's why I enjoy it in so many different ways."

 

[TheLoyalAcorn]

Continuing to draw Jace spoke up not looking at her. Vanya wasn't as pretentious as he thought she would be. She reminded him or a caged animal unable to truly strive for freedom. The again, she still thrived in her environment. She was only there because she skipped class and even then to do things that was the same thing. Classes not fun but classes or better termed practice.

"You ever get tired of not doing what you want? I mean I spent my whole life doing whatever I wanted. Here you are, practicing for something only a few will enjoy. You play the same exact thing expecting different results. Don't you feel insane doing what you're doing?"

Jace looked up from his drawing and held up his drawing. All the sketches he drew earlier were all mashed together overlapping eachother. On the other side of the sketch book was exactly what the drawings were but neat ordered words and numbers.

"You probably think I'm an idiot. I think I'm free." Remembering his current punishment Jace shrugged "for the most part."

 

[Bellatsakha]

Her fingers froze on the keys. She wasn't sure how to respond to that. It was true that she wasn't exactly able to do what she wanted, in fact, she could only do half of the things she wanted to do, but she wouldn't say she was trapped where she was. Compared to what she could've had it at home, things were going alright.

"I wouldn't say insane." She started cautiously, unable to formulate her feelings into words, "I practice so that I can perfect something not a lot of others can. I have ambitions and I like to work towards them. I'm most definitely not 'free' as you would class it, but right now I'm probably as free as I've ever been. And perhaps ever will be if this carries on."

She thought about how her parents would react if they had to be called up to the school. They would pull her out for sure and she would never be able to take another music or ballet class again, every hour would be dedicated to studying until she got the test results they wanted. She knew it was a huge gamble acting the way she did towards school, but that might be the last time she'd ever get to decide how she wanted to spend her time so she wanted to make it worthwhile. Besides, if she ever got too fed up with her home life, or whoever they decide to marry her off to's home life, she could always run away and join a ballet company in France or Russia. They were always looking for extras.

 

[TheLoyalAcorn]

"It just sounds boring to me. There's no fun in being the best. You'll wind up like my mom trying to protect a title only you care about."

Jace shrugged his shoulders. She seemed content with her life then who was he to say anything. Then again, it was a shame someone his age would squander it with no fun.

Standing up, Jace stretched and threw his sketch book on the floor. A few more hours and his mom would be here. He pulled out a manilla folder with his moms medical files he stole. Sitting back down he studied the document. He spoke up again reading his moms basic metrics.

"If you're so talented and dedicated why didn't your parents send off to one of those Russian ballet schools or maybe I don't know an arts school. Isn't this academy known for training people and their powers?"